Best wishes and congratulations to my nephew Sam and his wife Emily, who are expecting their first child in October. Another Stribling in the world, huzzah.

I doubt that Sam will mind me borrowing his drawing for the occasion, posted recently on Facebook. He and Emily are both architects, practicing in Dallas. He’s always had a talent for drawing.

This makes me a great-uncle. As far as I can tell, a great-uncle’s main role is to appear now and then and look scary old to the child. At least, that’s what my grandmother’s brother, Uncle Ralph (d. 1971), looked like to me. Well, not too scary, except for the fact that he was confined to a wheelchair and had only one functioning eye, conditions I hope to avoid. But you never know.